June 19, 2026
Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time / Saint Romuald, Abbot
Gospel: Matthew 6:19–23

Today is Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time. The Church celebrates the Optional Memorial of Saint Romuald, Abbot. The Roman Martyrology tells us: Saint Romuald (c. 950–1027) was born in Ravenna, Italy, of a noble family, and entered the Benedictine monastery of San Miniato, influenced by the Cluniac reform. He later founded hermitages at Fonte Avellana and Camaldoli, the latter becoming the motherhouse of the Camaldolese Order of hermit monks following the Rule of Saint Benedict. After a life wholly dedicated to prayer and severe penance, the Saint died in peace in 1027.

Today’s Gospel passage from Saint Matthew continues the Sermon on the Mount. In this portion of the discourse, Jesus teaches His disciples the true scale of values.

In daily life, we constantly face challenges posed by this present world. All that belongs to this world can draw us into an excessive pursuit of passing things. Too often, we adopt what seems to us the most natural means of claiming for ourselves what was never ours to begin with, failing even to recognize that our ways run contrary to all that God has taught us. We tell ourselves that what we now possess has been earned solely by our own hands, and so we forget the God who gives all. In truth, without His gift, we could not even continue to exist in this world.

Worse still, we may imagine that by amassing treasures here below, we secure for ourselves a life of ease and luxury in the world to come, as though our earthly existence could somehow be prolonged by material wealth. Such is the mindset of those who follow this passing age.

The value system of a Christian, however, stands in stark contrast. We believe that all we have is God’s, and that we are but His unprofitable servants. If we embrace this outlook and order our lives accordingly, we come to understand that nothing of this world can accompany us into the Kingdom of Heaven. Earthly riches cannot be carried across the threshold of eternity by our mortal flesh. What avails for entrance into that Kingdom is the good we have done in this life, and those brothers and sisters who, moved by our prayer and witness, choose to receive Baptism in Christ, to be cleansed in His infinite mercy from Original Sin, and to share in the eternal life of His divinity through the Anointing of the Holy Spirit and communion with all the Saints. United with us in faith, they sustain us by their prayers and support us by their deeds—and in them, we store up treasure in heaven.

O God, strength of those who hope in you, graciously hear our pleas, and, since without you mortal frailty can do nothing, grant us always the help of your grace, that in following your commands we may please you by our resolve and our deeds. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever

©Totus Tuus 2026
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica